The road not debated

FROM ALL the talk about the Central Artery at the gubernatorial debate on Monday, a voter might have thought it was the campaign of 1994 or 1998, when the underground artery and the Ted Williams Tunnel were being built. But the Big Dig, for all its trouble, is just about complete. The focus of the four candidates for governor ought to be on how to keep the core system in good repair while maintaining the statewide road network, plus financing new transportation projects, such as commuter rail expansions. Massachusetts does not now have the money to do all that.

At the debate, Christy Mihos, the independent candidate for governor, insisted on linking the Romney administration, and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, to the death of Milena Del Valle, who was struck by concrete that fell from the roof of the connector tunnel to Logan Airport. ``I gave you the documents and you people did nothing with it and as a result we're the laughingstock of the nation," Mihos thundered. ``Two people are dead today because you did nothing." (The other fatality refers to a man who had had a heart attack and died in a traffic jam.)

That's the kind of allegation that should doom a candidacy, if true. But Mihos acknowledged Wednesday that he didn't present the Romney administration with evidence that the tunnel roof was flawed, but only suggested that the governor unilaterally assume control of the artery project in 2003. Romney instead sought legislative approval to take over the Turnpike Authority, and failed to get it. The project remained under the control of the authority, which got responsibility for maintaining the Central Artery system from the Legislature in 1997, as a complement to its continuing maintenance of the Sumner and Callahan tunnels.

If Romney is to be believed, the authority hasn't been doing an effective job. On Tuesday, he held up a piece of concrete that was crumbling off the Sumner Tunnel ceiling. That problem isn't as dire as in the connector, and Romney said repairs could wait until next summer. It is encouraging that the administration has hired independent engineers to conduct reviews of the artery and tunnels. These ought to be done frequently in the future to reassure motorists that no one else will die because of faulty construction.

All these inspections will cost money, however, and keeping the underground system in good repair will cost far more, a task the Legislature in 1997 thought the Turnpike Authority could handle with ease because it had kept the highway from the New York border to Boston in tiptop condition.

But the takeover of the Artery project exposed the authority to pressures it had never felt before, some of them applied by Mihos, when he sat on the authority board from 1999 to 2004. The Legislature had assumed that the Authority would raise tolls in 2002 to help pay for artery construction, a move opposed by Mihos and delayed while the board members and Jane Swift's administration squabbled. The toll increase was finally approved, but with a discount for users of the Fast Lane transponder system. The authority has been scrambling for money ever since.

That squeeze has resulted in unwise decisions to indulge in interest-rate speculation and to use one-time profit, from the sale of land in Allston, for operating expenses. The authority will face a funding crisis during the term of the next governor if it does not find new revenue to help pay off the $2.2 billion worth of bonds floated to help pay for the artery. The gubernatorial candidates should explain how they will close the funding gap.

In the interview Wednesday, Mihos said he would sell off more authority property and seek reimbursements from the artery contractors, engineers, and project managers for inferior construction. More property sales on the Allston model will provide only short-term cash. The state ought to seek compensation for faulty work, but relying on that for a continuing stream of revenue is about as risky as betting on changes in interest rates.

The Turnpike Authority board will need to vote on renewing the Fast Lane discount next year. That 25-cent reduction in the tolls at Weston and Allston costs the authority $12 million year. And in 2008, the authority is supposed to raise tolls again to fulfill the conditions of the bond offering. A 25-cent increase at Allston and Weston and a 75-cent increase in the harbor tunnels would generate $40 million in revenue a year, and, combined with the abolition of the Fast Lane discount, would generate enough revenue to keep the bondholders happy.

Candidates are usually loath to support toll hikes. They might instead consider a boost in the gasoline tax, which hasn't been raised in 16 years. A one-cent increase would raise $33 million a year.

James Aloisi, general counsel to the authority from 1989 to 1996, offers an intriguing alternative. Why not ``concessionize" the Mystic-Tobin Bridge, leasing it to a private operator in exchange for a one-time payment that could approach a billion dollars.

A gasoline tax increase is the best alternative because it spreads the burden around to all drivers, and provides a continuing revenue stream. All these options ought to be debated in the gubernatorial campaign. A special finance commission, of which Aloisi is a member, is working on a report outlining these and other options. It ought to be released early next month to influence the campaign dialogue. Eric Kriss, Romney's former budget aide, will also offer a report on the future of the authority next month, and the candidates need to react to his ideas as well.

In the debate Monday, Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross and Democrat Deval Patrick seemed to float above the Mihos-Healey fracas. But dealing with the Turnpike Authority funding crisis, while reserving money to address transportation projects across the state, will call for leadership skills to rally a constituency around what may at first seem unpopular choices. The issue of transportation priorities ought to be discussed at the next debate on Tuesday by all four candidates. The Big Dig construction will soon be history, but the underground Central Artery is a legacy to the future that needs to be maintained better than it was built.